So this song is blowing up twitter over the past few days. As many of you know, im a pretty big country music fan and also a pretty big brad paisley fan. But I have to say, this song is pretty bad.

I don't support the "Outrage," thats going on over the song, I think thats overblown, but I do support anybody who says its just a bad song.

The one thing I really dislike about the message in the song though is that brad claims wearing a shirt with a confederate flag is "Accidentally being racist." Thats BS. There is no excuse in this day and age for not understanding the meaning of a shirt like that. He can wear it because he's a skynnard fan but he isnt accidentally being racist, he is knowingly wearing a shirt that has two meanings even if he only believes in one of them.

A few years ago I was fortunate to be able to listen to a speech by a cat named Johnny Lee Clary. He went from being the public spokesperson of the modern KKK to being a baptist minister who now advocates for civil rights. His life story is quite fascinating and if you haven't heard it I would greatly encourage you to check it out.

One of the issues he discussed was people openly opposing the use of the stars and bars flag. He was of the opinion that it ceased being officially used in any capacity in about 1865, so theoretically all the racism and injustice that has been committed after that date has occured under the stars and stripes flag. He was also a big lynard skynard fan.

A few years ago I was fortunate to be able to listen to a speech by a cat named Johnny Lee Clary. He went from being the public spokesperson of the modern KKK to being a baptist minister who now advocates for civil rights. His life story is quite fascinating and if you haven't heard it I would greatly encourage you to check it out.

One of the issues he discussed was people openly opposing the use of the stars and bars flag. He was of the opinion that it ceased being officially used in any capacity in about 1865, so theoretically all the racism and injustice that has been committed after that date has occured under the stars and stripes flag. He was also a big lynard skynard fan.

Just food for thought.

He must've forgotten how many states passed Jim Crow laws while flying a Confederate flag, or a state flag based on its design. Curious lapse of memory for an ex-KKK guy.

Honestly whenever I hear about the Confederate flag issue coming up it just makes me think about Hindus and swastikas. Unlike the Confederate Flag, that is a symbol that had a real, powerful, longstanding meaning before it was co-opted, and it's even more toxic to display, for obvious reasons. That's a symbol I'd like to see "taken back" but I don't think it'll ever happen.

A few years ago I was fortunate to be able to listen to a speech by a cat named Johnny Lee Clary. He went from being the public spokesperson of the modern KKK to being a baptist minister who now advocates for civil rights. His life story is quite fascinating and if you haven't heard it I would greatly encourage you to check it out.

One of the issues he discussed was people openly opposing the use of the stars and bars flag. He was of the opinion that it ceased being officially used in any capacity in about 1865, so theoretically all the racism and injustice that has been committed after that date has occured under the stars and stripes flag. He was also a big lynard skynard fan.

Just food for thought.

He must've forgotten how many states passed Jim Crow laws while flying a Confederate flag, or a state flag based on its design. Curious lapse of memory for an ex-KKK guy.

Honestly whenever I hear about the Confederate flag issue coming up it just makes me think about Hindus and swastikas. Unlike the Confederate Flag, that is a symbol that had a real, powerful, longstanding meaning before it was co-opted, and it's even more toxic to display, for obvious reasons. That's a symbol I'd like to see "taken back" but I don't think it'll ever happen.

You have a real curious beef with a flag. Having lived as a transplant here in South Georgia for nearly my entire life, I can tell you that most folks could care less about the stars and bars. I can also tell you that I heard more racist crap (N Bombs in particular) visiting Mass. than I have heard in THIRTY YEARS of living in the south. Southerners are like Texans, they like having a symbol that shows their pride. It is no more racist than when African Americans were flying African colors back in the 90's. No one gives a crap about that stuff down here where we are all supposedly fat racist rednecks that look like the duck dynasty guys.

Making comparisons to swastikas and stuff like that, I just don't get it. The Civil War was a huge mistake, it was never about slavery and Lincoln wanted to ship all of the slaves back to Africa anyway. But all that is in the past and if you want to paint the stars and bars as a racist icon, then the stars and stripes not only stands for slavery, but it also stands for genocide, Japanese internment camps, Gitmo waterboarding, Sherman's murderous march to the sea, the raping and pillaging of New Orleans, and many other atrocities.

The deal is: It's just a stinkin flag. Both of them. I don't care when people fly the American Flag because I know their intent is to be proud of the good things this country stands for. When folks around here fly the confederate flag, I know it is a icon of southern pride. I don't look to much into it.

One thing I have found out during my life is that everyone you admire, every organization, every group or country or whatever, they have things that, if you look deep enough into their history, are down right horrid. All your heroes stink, countries do horrible things, and so do we. It is up to us to filter that out and not judge someone based on the flag they fly or the color of their skin.

Making comparisons to swastikas and stuff like that, I just don't get it. The Civil War was a huge mistake, it was never about slavery and Lincoln wanted to ship all of the slaves back to Africa anyway. But all that is in the past and if you want to paint the stars and bars as a racist icon, then the stars and stripes not only stands for slavery, but it also stands for genocide, Japanese internment camps, Gitmo waterboarding, Sherman's murderous march to the sea, the raping and pillaging of New Orleans, and many other atrocities.

And this is where you go off the rails completely. It was always about slavery. They rebelled because they lost the election and an anti-slavery party (Republican) was president. Yes it was a big mistake, treason usually is especially when its over losing a fair election.

And yes the American flag stands for all the awful things you cite too, you don't get to pick and choose your history.

That's not even touching on the lyrics either (which make it even worse)

Im with you, really bad song. I don't think its really all that outragous or offensive though right?

I haven't seen any of the reaction, but I'm guessing a lot of it is more about the issues the song touches on, than the song itself. The song is only really offensive in that it's kinda terrible.

Yeah its a bad song.

Rapprochement and empathy I guess are the "message" which is good I suppose. But rapprochement shouldn't mean rewriting ugly history of things which is what the outrage is "against" I guess? Its all silly over a bad song.

The deal is: It's just a stinkin flag. Both of them. I don't care when people fly the American Flag because I know their intent is to be proud of the good things this country stands for. When folks around here fly the confederate flag, I know it is a icon of southern pride. I don't look to much into it.

One thing I have found out during my life is that everyone you admire, every organization, every group or country or whatever, they have things that, if you look deep enough into their history, are down right horrid. All your heroes stink, countries do horrible things, and so do we. It is up to us to filter that out and not judge someone based on the flag they fly or the color of their skin.

The problem of the American South is that its history is inseparable from racial politics. The racism is not something that you find if you look deep enough, it is there on the surface, so blatant that anyone who denies it is either lying, willfully naive, or absurdly stupid.

Logged

"The worst thing that ever happened in sports was sports radio, and the internet is sports radio on steroids with lower IQs.” -- Brian Burke, former Toronto Maple Leafs senior adviser, at the 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

A few years ago I was fortunate to be able to listen to a speech by a cat named Johnny Lee Clary. He went from being the public spokesperson of the modern KKK to being a baptist minister who now advocates for civil rights. His life story is quite fascinating and if you haven't heard it I would greatly encourage you to check it out.

One of the issues he discussed was people openly opposing the use of the stars and bars flag. He was of the opinion that it ceased being officially used in any capacity in about 1865, so theoretically all the racism and injustice that has been committed after that date has occured under the stars and stripes flag. He was also a big lynard skynard fan.

Just food for thought.

He must've forgotten how many states passed Jim Crow laws while flying a Confederate flag, or a state flag based on its design. Curious lapse of memory for an ex-KKK guy.

Honestly whenever I hear about the Confederate flag issue coming up it just makes me think about Hindus and swastikas. Unlike the Confederate Flag, that is a symbol that had a real, powerful, longstanding meaning before it was co-opted, and it's even more toxic to display, for obvious reasons. That's a symbol I'd like to see "taken back" but I don't think it'll ever happen.

You have a real curious beef with a flag. Having lived as a transplant here in South Georgia for nearly my entire life, I can tell you that most folks could care less about the stars and bars. I can also tell you that I heard more racist crap (N Bombs in particular) visiting Mass. than I have heard in THIRTY YEARS of living in the south. Southerners are like Texans, they like having a symbol that shows their pride. It is no more racist than when African Americans were flying African colors back in the 90's. No one gives a crap about that stuff down here where we are all supposedly fat racist rednecks that look like the duck dynasty guys.

Making comparisons to swastikas and stuff like that, I just don't get it. The Civil War was a huge mistake, it was never about slavery and Lincoln wanted to ship all of the slaves back to Africa anyway. But all that is in the past and if you want to paint the stars and bars as a racist icon, then the stars and stripes not only stands for slavery, but it also stands for genocide, Japanese internment camps, Gitmo waterboarding, Sherman's murderous march to the sea, the raping and pillaging of New Orleans, and many other atrocities.

The deal is: It's just a stinkin flag. Both of them. I don't care when people fly the American Flag because I know their intent is to be proud of the good things this country stands for. When folks around here fly the confederate flag, I know it is a icon of southern pride. I don't look to much into it.

One thing I have found out during my life is that everyone you admire, every organization, every group or country or whatever, they have things that, if you look deep enough into their history, are down right horrid. All your heroes stink, countries do horrible things, and so do we. It is up to us to filter that out and not judge someone based on the flag they fly or the color of their skin.

Sorry, ranted a bit. And yeah, this song is just bad.

I think you're reading a lot into my post that isn't there. This issue always reminds me of swastikas because that's another case where a symbol also has very different meanings to different people. But in that case the negative aspect of the symbol is far stronger, which wipes out what, unlike the Confederate flag, is a real, positive historical tradition.

I've had a lot of Hindu friends, and I think it's a shame that an ancient symbol they and others used for centuries has been completely spoiled for them. I don't feel nearly as bad for people wanting to redefine a battle flag from a rebellion against America as a positive thing, but it's not a major issue to me, though the revisionism that tends to run rampant around the issue - like claiming the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery - gets pretty ridiculous.

And while I appreciate the cultural lesson, I'm also a northern transplant who's spent most of my adult life in North Carolina and Arkansas. And a brief period in Gettysburg, which is one of the few places you can hang Confederate flags all over the place without anyone batting an eye. Rather than start an anecdote fight I'll just say that while nobody has a monopoly on racism, my experiences have been very different from yours.

I've had a lot of Hindu friends, and I think it's a shame that an ancient symbol they and others used for centuries has been completely spoiled for them. I don't feel nearly as bad for people wanting to redefine a battle flag from a rebellion against America as a positive thing, but it's not a major issue to me, though the revisionism that tends to run rampant around the issue - like claiming the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery - gets pretty ridiculous.

It's not historical revisionism as part of the circus around trying to redefine the Confederate flag as a positive thing, it is the Confederate flag as a symbol of the main point of historical revisionism to redefine the South and its heritage as a positive thing. It's not that the flag has different meanings to different people, it's the Civil War has different meanings to different people and some of those people (the kind who refer to it as the War of Northern Aggression) are flat-out wrong.

Logged

"The worst thing that ever happened in sports was sports radio, and the internet is sports radio on steroids with lower IQs.” -- Brian Burke, former Toronto Maple Leafs senior adviser, at the 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

I've had a lot of Hindu friends, and I think it's a shame that an ancient symbol they and others used for centuries has been completely spoiled for them. I don't feel nearly as bad for people wanting to redefine a battle flag from a rebellion against America as a positive thing, but it's not a major issue to me, though the revisionism that tends to run rampant around the issue - like claiming the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery - gets pretty ridiculous.

It's not historical revisionism as part of the circus around trying to redefine the Confederate flag as a positive thing, it is the Confederate flag as a symbol of the main point of historical revisionism to redefine the South and its heritage as a positive thing. It's not that the flag has different meanings to different people, it's the Civil War has different meanings to different people and some of those people (the kind who refer to it as the War of Northern Aggression) are flat-out wrong.